Goals check-in: June

Read 100 books in 2012.

Stalled out around #65. I started a few books that I didn't like, and couldn't finish them. I re-read several that I already own, but they don't count toward the challenge. Instead of my usual pleasure reading, I have been scanning a LOT of children's picturebooks for my internship and for 271A. I want to have fun grownup books again, please! Like these.

Exercise for 90 minutes per week.
Nope. I get small spurts of activity (usually walking), but nothing organized.


Get rid of (sell, donate, recycle) 80 items from the house by the end of the year.
Oops -- quit counting after 98.


Write 70 posts for this blog in 2012.
Only 9 posts this month, for a running total of 67. Slowed down because of hours spent on internship/homework and wedding planning, and also because my trusty Chromebook is in the shop. Once I catch up on my 271A book reviews, though, I'll have about doubled this goal.


Volunteer 60 hours in 2012.
My time spent on the internship is taking a greater toll than I'd thought. I volunteered for about 4 hours at Pride (running bags of money from the festival gates to the treasury), but I think that was it.


Save or donate 50 percent of my take-home income.
In June, I saved 54.5% and donated 10.1% of my net income. (I'm counting the cash I applied to the accounts, not any interest earned.)
Here's how it broke down:
Emergency Savings: 16.2% 
Xmas 2012: 1.6% 
Wedding: 0% Done.
House Fund: 8.1% 
Grad School: 26.6% Snowflaked some Amazon sales and credit card cash-back rewards.
Roth IRA: 2%
401(k): taken from paycheck; 5% of gross income; not counted in this total
HSA and medical FSA: taken from paycheck; not counted in this total
Investments: 0% this month; waiting for some windfall that's not already earmarked.
Church Pledge: 8.1% 
Other Donations: 2% Although I had unexpected expenses and couldn't donate the full monthly amount I usually do, I contributed half to Kristene Chapa's medical bills.


Distribute 40 business cards by the end of the year.
My sweetie took a few with her to a conference where she presented, and connected with other alternative-type parents and parents-to-be. Which made for some amusing listserv invitations to my professional email address. I also handed some out to wedding vendors, but I don't think I made any library contacts this month outside of the internship (so I should start taking my cards to that!).


Spend 30 days without a phone or computer in 2012.
None this month -- I've been going flat-out, seven days a week.


Be able to do 20 pushups at once by the end of the year.
LOLZ.


Write 10 recommendations on LinkedIn in 2012.
A few excellent coworkers have moved on in recent weeks. I'm connected with them on LinkedIn; maybe I will send them recs and let them post if desired.





Bonus:

Don't eat out. PASS
I spent about what I thought I would on the scheduled restaurant meals. Once someone else picked up the check; that was a nice surprise. In general, my sweetie and I ate at home, and packed lunches for work and other activities, but on a couple of occasions the choice was to buy food or go hungry while being very busy, and I chose to get something from a deli. This is still the category where we spend the most.


Save change. DONE
The change jar has a lot of bills in it, actually, from cash tips at the new job. We've learned to keep laundry quarters in a different location. This goal will continue through July, with plans to count it up at the end and deposit the balance into our Big Vacation fund.


Sell stuff. IN PROGRESS
Some of my old books have been purchased on Amazon; the proceeds go to my grad school account (and will probably be used to buy used textbooks from Amazon anyway). I've dutifully updated the few items I have listed on Craigslist, but there hasn't been a lot of interest.